People who trash Morey don't know how godawful the vast majority of NBA GMs are.

...then, the divine wrath had fallen on him and 40 days later made him watch that thing of beauty called Linsanity from far away and atone for what he had done.

And now here we are a year later. Merry Christmas everyone!

 

You're right about the Lakers GM. I don't think the Lakers GM is all that great simply because stars always fall into the lap of the Lakers. I think the Lakers GM is a little overrated.

But before the Harden's trade, I was a little skeptical. Honestly, I was really afraid that the Rockets would panicked and trade for someone like Pau Gasol. I really did not expect the Rockets to land James Harden or even see it coming. But Luck happens to make all of this happen.

But for Morey to clean out the Rockets squad from last year, start all over from scraps, collected a ton of assets and turn this team into the youngest, the brightest and the most fun team to watch in the league.

Overall, I am glad that the Rockets missed out on Dwight Howard, Stern blocking that Gasol trade, and also the Rockets not be able to trade up to that 5th spot in the lottery and probably drafted Andre Drummond with it. So overall, I think the right opportunity, motivation, intelligence, the drive, and a lot of luck is the result of a successful GM.

 

I wonder if we could still make a trade for Drummond, that guy is a monster! :grin:

 

well we still have a roster full of PFs :grin:

 

totally agree, it will take people a while to understand we landed a superstar. i was wrong about lin personally, but i do understand we are only three years removed from contending and the team is toally different and now a playoff team again.

that's freakin unheard of in the freakin nba. freakin gm of the year is more like it.

 

I remember when Joe Dumars and Geoff Petrie were two of the best GMs. Now both teams are in a deep funk. It is definitely a difficult job that seems very dependent on one or two people/injuries making or breaking you. The ultimate what have you done for me lately job. I doubt either Dumars or Petrie forgot how to do their job or got lazy.

 

So many things wrong here.

1. Geoff Petrie was never considered a good NBA GM. These days even less so.

2. Joe Dumars was for a time, but it turns out that his vaunted skill just involved signing or trading for players like Rasheed Wallace who wanted to play in Detroit anyway. So skillful!

3. When called upon to make actual personnel decisions, Dumars would do amazing things like draft Darko Milicic over Carmelo Anthony, or lock up Jonas Jerebko (not even in the Pistons' rotation) for 4 years / 18 million and
Charlie Villanueva for 5 years / 40. And let's not even get into the incredible decision to build around a middling talent like Rodney Stuckey, who can't decide if he is a shooting guard who can't shoot or a point guard who can't pass.

4. That's not to say that Daryl Morey doesn't make mistakes. He does from time to time, but when he does he is quick to internalize the lesson from them and attempts to fix them. Meanwhile, the Pistons and Kings have been in apathetic "Oh well I guess we suck now" mode for a decade. They just sit with that dietrus on their rosters for years. Apples and oranges my friend.

 

I are smartur than MIT grad

 

Dumars is just unlucky. If he was picking anything other than the No 2 pick in that year, we would be now talking about how he built a dynasty. If you feel Presti getting to draft Durant instead of Oden was "getting lucky", Dumars was definitely unlucky by comparsion.

As for the Kings, Petrie is hardly the problem. Their problem more like comes from the ownership.

 

Dumars is only unlucky if it were only draft picks we were considering. Giving huge contracts to bad talents isn't a matter of luck. It's a matter of incredibly poor judgment.

That's probably true. But nobody gets points just for having a job nobody else wants in having to deal with the Maloofs and their stupid BS day in and day out.

 

Not sure i agree with your order

I think you way overrate Kevin Pritchard (Port) and Mitch Kupchack (LAL). And the Bobcats? Really?

Pritchard traded Zach Randolph for Channing Fry and Steve Francis, drafted Greg Oden over Kevin Durrant. His 2 good moves have been trading for Nicalus Batum on draft night and drafting Damian Llillard. I think in he may have been a victim of circumstance with the health of Roy and Oden.

Many of Kupchacks moves have not worked but being the GM of the Lakers and having Kobe Bryant as your star player certainly has its advantages.

I think you have to say that Pat Riley and Sam Presti are the best at this point but I like Presti more. I don't think anyone has done more with less than Daryl Morey.

 

Presti deserves a lot more credit than that. He may have "lucked" his way to getting Durant and Harden, but he also drafted Westbrook and Ibaka with the 4th and 24th picks. Westbrook was considered a bit of a reach by draft experts.

And it's not just the draft that earns Presti his reputation. He also traded Jeff Green for one of the top defensive centers at the time. Sefolosha was acquired for a late first round pick. Nick Collison's frontloaded extension showed a lot of foresight in regards to the luxury tax. And I believe he got a great deal for Harden, considering the financial constraints of ownership.

Yeah, drafting Kevin Durant did all the heavy lifting. But someone like Bryan Colangelo proves that you can have a perennial all-star PF, the #1 pick in the draft, max cap room, unlimited funds and support from ownership and still turn the team into the Toronto Raptors. Colangelo's made more mistakes in this offseason than Presti's made his whole career. That's what makes Presti the best.

 

DM is a top 5 GM in the league without a doubt. I dont know who Memphis's GM is but I think he has done a good job up there and is underrated. Has made some good trades and has the disadvantage of being in a small market.

 

I agree with all the positive comments about Morey. I think he has done a lot for our franchise, and I hope he stays with us as long as possible.

 

^this.
What has presti done except for not wasting his draft picks. I'd say he achieved expectation of his job, but not more. People give him way too much credit.

 

People forget the Rockets have an owner that let arguably the best center to ever play the game who brought this city two championships retire in F'n Canada.

Alexander don't give a damn that his cap strapped team didn't make the playoffs the past few years. Morey did everything Alexander wanted him to and that's keep a team relative when they should have tanked a couple of seasons. But no way Alexander would want his team to tank when he had that big new arena that he has to pay the rent on. And this is football country _ where fans barely show up for a .500 team, imagine how empty that arena would be if this was a 15 to 20 game winning team. I'm sure owners want to win championships but their main objective is to make money _ this is a business.

With these resent off-season moves Morey's Job is secure.

McHale may be out the picture though if they don't make the playoffs.

 

I wish I could rec this thread three times.

...heck, I wish I could rec it once.

 

Since I don't care about other teams, I'm only interested in the job that the Rockets GM is doing. As of today's date Morey has only a small piece of evidence that he's doing a great job and that's the James Harden trade. He has constantly over paid for mediocre talent, however, he has shown an ability to move that mediocre talent. So don't get use to Lin and Omir, because if Dwight wants to leave LA trust they are gone in any trade.

So bottom line, someone please show me winning evidence that Morey is a great GM.

 

Presti was Lucky that Portland messed up and didn't draft KD (like they did with Jordan). Than they followed that KD #2 pick with a #5 pick in Westbrook and #3 pick in Harden which means they sucked for three years and in the process got kicked out of a city.

What OKC (and San Antonio) did by building through the draft is what every team would like to do but what they did is rare. Hardly ever happens.

And if Sam Presti was really smart _ he would have traded Westbrook and got a real center and kept Harden.

Westbrook went 9-28 the other night with 9 assist and 8 turnovers. This Harden trade is going to haunt him for a long time. OKC fans have an eye on how well Harden is playing while they watch Westbrook continue to take shots from KD and other players.

 

I think he meant Neil Olshey for Portland, Olshey was responsible for drafting Lillard, Leonard and Barton, re-signed Batum and Hickson, attempted to hire legendary coaches Phil Jackson and Jerry Sloan (Phil almost accepted by the way. Perfect example of how easier it is to be a Laker GM than a small market team GM), and tried to take Roy Hibbert away from the Pacers.

He was also called the MacGyver of the Clippers, considering the circumstance of having to work for a cheap and lousy owner like Donald Sterling. :grin: